Despite the fact that the Apple tablet has been rumored throughout nearly the whole of the past decade without coming to market, it seems, given the recent and massive surge in tablet-related gossip abound on the internet, that at long last, it will become a reality.

Quick facts for those who are too lazy to read the nine links above:

• Apple is almost certainly goign to hold a special event on January 26 regarding the "mobile space" -- i.e. mobile products, which strongly hints at a tablet announcement
• Various trademark registrations (See links for details) point to "iSlate" being a strong contender for the name of the tablet
• "iGuide" might also be a name for the tablet or a related service
• Sources say a 10" screen, although some other sources say 7"
• Apparently the way users interact w/ the tablet is a "big surprise"
• Apple has been working on touch keyboards (like on the iPhone) that provide tactile feedback
• There has been news of Apple partnerships with various media companies (e.g. newspaper companies, magazine companies, publishers)

Thoughts, speculations, etc, blah?

I personally think that this will not be positioned as existing tablet PCs are -- i.e. it won't be a notebook with tablet capabilities and won't be a substitute for the Macbook/MBP line. I think it will be positioned as an all-in-one media device that will serve as a portable device for traditional media (books, magazines, newspapers) as well as digital media (movies, music), as well as an internet browser. In other words, like an iPod, but for books, magazines, newspapers (i.e. eBook competitor), as well as movies and music, combined with the quick and portable internet access that netbooks currently aim to provide. Apple has had a history of looking at an existing industry (mp3 players, smartphones) and "doing it right" -- I think the tablet will be positioned as the "right" way to do both eBooks and netbooks, and will compete with Kindle and nook as well as the tons of netbooks out there by providing more value than both categories currently do, and priced accordingly -- somewhere between the iPhone and the Macbook (around ~600 is my guess give or take 100).

It will have terrible compatibility, power, and stability as compared to other products, but trendwhores will buy a million. The people who actually use it because it works for them will sadly be lumped it with the trendwhores.

Before anyone responds to Tibby can we not turn this into a Mac vs. PC thread PRETTY PLEASE

Tibby, are you trying to say that Apple products generally have bad compatibility, power, and stability? Because if so, you are a moron. My Macbook Pro has ran flawlessly for almost 4 years now and in that amount of time it has yet to crash, freeze, or fail me on even one occasion. Same thing goes for my iPod touch. Calling people who buy Apple products trend whores is ridiculous. People who buy Apple products are people who enjoy long lasting dependability and ease of use in their products.

I look forward to this product with great enthusiasm.

The unofficial Apple motto, "Form over function." :downs:

As much as I dislike Apple, the iPhone has proven superior to the (pre-Pre) Palm and Blackberry phones that I've used.

I still don't understand why Palm and Nokia have new Linux based OSes. Why not just base it off Android?? The webOS app store is pathetic. There are more homebrew apps than there are official apps.

Palm had two good ideas for an OS: JavaScript and HTML apps that are dead simple to write, and the card paradigm for UI. Okay, great, here's a thought: ADD THEM TO ANDROID

Developers don't want to port their mobile apps to yet ANOTHER platform! And I just know there was some douchebag executive at Palm thinking, "hurr hurr, we're better than everyone else!" while all the engineers went

I think the whole thing is pretty much a waste of time.

The way I see it, the most fundamental problem with the whole project is the fact that Apple does not invent. Apple's industry is leveraging their brand[sup]1[/sup] in anticipated markets. Anybody who has used a tablet PC knows that they need to be thrown out and redesigned from scratch, but that sort of thing would be totally out of character for Apple. So I'm not expecting anything miraculous in terms of integration.

(1: Convincing art students to ask their parents for a Mac instead of a Thinkpad.)

Another big problem is the fact that Motorola hates Apple. Motorola also holds all of the really interesting patents on haptic feedback for mobile touchscreen devices. So I'm not expecting anything miraculous in terms of innovation.

Another huge problem is the fact that Apple is a surprisingly incompetent software company. Natural input algorithms are extremely difficult and an active area of research in computer science. Companies like Microsoft, which are at the forefront in developing solutions to these problems, employ researchers who are literally at the tops of their fields. Companies like Apple, on the other hand, don't give a flying **** about your A+ in Machine Learning if you don't know at least three guitar chords. So I'm not expecting anything miraculous in terms of reliability or implementation.

I don't think they're that bad I just think they are very limited. Pointing and clicking with a pen is pretty effective, but handwriting is worthless and tiresome for the wrist. The best use case I've encountered for a tablet, for me anyway, is lying in bed or on a couch and using it as an ebook reader. For this reason I wish my netbook was a convertible tablet, it would be perfect for that situation. I would probably never use it for anything else.

If Apple released a tablet that came with a stylus I'm not sure if I'd be astonished that they'd make something so clunky or totally unsurprised that they weren't able to solve a usability problem the rest of the industry has been working on for 15 years.

The idea of a tablet for reading eBooks has zero appeal to me. Staring at a backlit LCD to try and read large amounts of text makes me want to rip my eyes out of my head. I'll stick with my eInk-based reader that's much easier on the eyes.

There are pretty much no other situations that I'd want a tablet for either.

I have a Thinkpad X61t and I like it but that's neither here nor there -- I'm pretty certain that Apple will not be positioning its tablet as a tablet PC (that is, it will not be a "computer" in the sense that it will not provide laptop-like functionality). I have to disagree with what you say, Joncy, about it being out of character for Apple to redesign something that has not worked into something that does it right -- that's basically how they positioned the iPhone (they said "this is what's wrong w/ the smartphones out there right now, and this is how we solved those problems and here is our implementation").

Most of my speculation in my original post is done from a marketing (meaning STP not advertising) perspective, but from the technical side, I agree with you for the most part -- which is why I think Apple is NOT going to market the tablet as a tablet PC nor stress tablet pc input the way it is currently done now -- the tablet form factor will simply exist to provide a UI designed around the product's function as an eBook/media/internet all-in-one.

I don't think there have been enough details leaked to say whether or not the screen will be an LCD, so it may be eInk just yet (I really have no idea but you would presume that if the device were to be an eBook reader, the engineers and product managers would have considered the LCD issue).


I think in most cases, though, companies successful in bringing something like this to market don't start with a product and design the utility around it -- it's not "what can we make a tablet do so that consumers would want it". Rather, they start with something that can provide a consumer with value/utility and then design the product around it ("How can we make a product that can let a consumer do ____? We can use a tablet"). In this case, I don't think we can get a very good sense of what situations the Apple tablet can be useful in based on situations in which existing tablets might be useful.

That's not what I said though. I said it's out of character for Apple to actually innovate in any substantial way. Apple's iPhone strategy was very typical: anticipate the natural future evolution of cell phones, adopt technology before it's truly ready, and prop up their offering with their brand. Then their marketing team convinces people that it was an incredible technical innovation and a daring, risky business move. You can see this strategy in absolutely every product they make.

My assertion is that it would be atypical for Apple to put in the amount of effort and innovation it would take to make a tablet a practical, worthwhile product.

Just make me a ****ing tricorder already kthx

I'm interested, but am waiting to see it before I make any judgement. Apple has seemingly put in more time and effort into this project than anything else they've done since their resurgence, and I'm worried that they're so far up their collective asses that they aren't listening to what consumers want. The iphone is a great success, but that's only because the rest smart phone landscape was mind numbingly terrible at the time. The restrictions on the iphone suck, they're constantly fighting with consumers trying to use their products in different ways, and have crippled the ability for people to use the phone to it's fullest potential.

I'm extremely wary of this device. Unless it's truly revolutionary, which I honestly doubt is within apple's ability, it's going to come up against steep competition from the smart phone, netbook, laptop AND e-reader fields, with extremely low prices and plenty of features. If the rumored $999 price tag is to be believed, this device is starting to venture awfully close to Apple III category.

iSee...

see wut i did thar?

I've got some cash squirrelled away to spend on an eReader which I was going to buy in the sales round about now, so I'll hang fire at least till the 26th to see if what they're proposing will be a suitable eReader. If it's not, I'll buy a purpose built one, if it is supposed to be a viable eReader (presumably alongside other things) I'll wait till it drops and see what happens when it's in the sweaty palms of (relatively) normal people.

Between now and then, I've got my birthday coming up so if there's a significant difference between what I've saved and what I need I'll ask my parents for a little help to make up the difference.

I've wanted to buy an eBook reader for quite some time now. However, everything on the market up until this point, besides the Sony eReader just didn't appeal to me. There are several eReaders coming out in 2010 that are supposed to be quite good. However, if Apple offers an eBook reader or a tablet that functions nicely as an eBook reader, I'll probably be on board. I don't care if it's innovative, who they stole the idea from or how it works on a technical level. Maybe that makes me a fan-boy or maybe I just care too much about aesthetics. I just know that I always find myself more pleased with my Apple products than just about everything else.

But the apple e-book reader would be five years behind the technology curve.

Umm, won't be eInk. eInk refresh rates are way too damn slow to use for something like a tablet, and color eInk isn't even really working yet.

Actually, it's a lot closer to a PADD.

A Canadian company made a Tricorder Mark I back in 1996. This device would detect EMF, temperature, barometric pressure, light wavelength absorption, and light intensity. However, they only sold about 10,000 before going bankrupt and closing down business.

Absolutely, but if you only want both and only want to spend money on one device, lowering the contrast on an LCD can be pretty good. Black text on a darkish gray background is pretty easy on my LCDs, anyway.

I was just ogling some tablet notebooks the other day and wishing one came with OSX. I'll be sorely disappointed if this turns into another kindle clone.

I have a tablet PC, which I like because I use it to take notes on, and pretty much use as an ebook reader. That said, I still prefer the mouse and keyboard for day to day activities.

As far as apple doing anything, I've always despised their interfaces. Back in lab, we used macs to run certain machines, and through that (especially the virtual impossibility of trouble shooting), I've come to hate apple. Plus yeah, expensive as hell.

I've held off a Kindle/Nook because from what some people say (i.e. Kevin Rose) - after the announcement he said you'll he a lot of Kindles on eBay. I really don't want it to be a tablet computer, because that drives up price, and the market for tablet computing just isn't that large. If they competitively price a eReader/iPod/MobileOS it will trounce the Kindle/Nook.

Steve Jobs is reportedly very impressed with what they've come up with - knowing his reputation for how much of an ******* he is behind closed doors that gets my attention.

Steve Jobs is always reportedly very impressed with every product they are releasing or close to releasing.

Bill Gates is the one who has been carrying around a Tablet PC since they first existed. He and, like, 8 others in the entire world.

I'll just wait till Microsoft rips it off and makes it better.

You'll be waiting a long time.

Microsoft does have the Courier in the works and it looks sick

Is it physically in the works or is it still just a concept video at this point?

Concept as far as I could see.

But on the 'iSlate' the amount of people wanting to see this new product on the shelves is quite incredible, we have had more interest in the tablet since the 'iSlate' thing came on a few sites, than the iPhone rumours. I for one hope the Apple do a good job in it, with the lack of new and wondrous products last year, ok maybe the Magic mouse was great, but no stock makes it very difficult to sell, but anyhow if it comes about and the get it with the features that people want it should sell very well.
My hopes for it are;

Full version of 10.6 - none of this iPhone OS
Pen option
Wireless/Bluetooth
iSight cam
Touch screen keyboard.

I agree that the Tablet market is very small but with people using eBook readers and touch screen phones it does seem that Apple would at some point fill in some sort of gap that people expect them to fill.

I hope they get it right and I hope I sell a ton of them, but if they dont get it right, im off to buy a Tablet PC laptop and hackintosh it.

A. A similar system for JS/HTML apps on Android is being created. Apps should be very easily ported from one platform to the other. Hell, if you do it right, it won't need "porting" at all, unless you call resubmitting to a new app store "porting".
B. Actually, there are more apps in the App Catalog (double, actually) than on Preware, unless for some strange reason you start counting patches AND themes.
C. With 1.3.5, we're looking at much better OpenGL support in WebOS. See also the recent announcement of a better Doom port using SDL (it's actually downright perfect. Sound works, keyboard works, no framerate lag, and it is in a functional card). It also added better accelerometer control, meaning games won't lag so terribly with it.
D. Pre and Pixi will be on Verizon soon, and shockingly enough without all the Verizon store/app crap. That will significantly boost its chances as a dominant phone.

All in all though I'm most excited about C, since that shows the most promise for more "native like" applications.

Apparently it is being announced tonight

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/microsoft-to-reveal-hp-slate-tomorrow/

Color eInk! (Also fairly quick refresh rates)

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/liquavista-shows-off-low-power-color-e-paper-display/

Check this out

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/msi-dualscreen-e-reader-hands-on/#comments